27 posts categorized "The Soap Box"

September 11, 2010

"The Web Is Dead." This month's Wired magazine proclaims "Long Live The Internet." So what does that mean for Web designers? We must evolve to Internet Design! From apps to content everything has changed. The rise of NUI [touch screen or natural user interface] and mobile based hardware is driving lighter, simpler services and apps. This evolution has tremendous impact for designers. In Part One I covered Layout, In Part Two: Typography, In Part Three: Color. Today we I will focus on art direction & elements.

Part Four: The Art of Design

The visual metaphor, typography, textures, information graphics, surreal, illustration... you name it I have done it. Art direction is where I love to play and dramatize the idea. When it comes to apps this is where you can have some real fun! Your creativity can go wild here with texture, icons, patterns, etc. Keep in mind that design elements also play a big role in setting the mood of the design. So keep things consistent with the goals of the website and it’s audience. Also keep the design elements consistent with the other three components (Layout, Typography and Color) already mentioned.

Consistency in action

The designer of Red Velvet Art did an excellent job of utilizing the same hand drawn style throughout the various design elements. Notice how the icons, background pattern and doodles all work together. The consistency also flows through to the typography and retro color scheme.

Attention to detail

The Squarespace blog has a typical blog layout and an overall clean design, but notice the pixel perfect tick marks that line the left and right borders of the content area. It’s such a minimal design element, but it serves it’s purpose in establishing focus on the content while staying consistent with the rest of the design.

Less really is more

This design could have worked well on a white background, but Elliot Jay Stocks loves using texture. To stay consistent with the open feel of the site, he went with a light and subtle grunge texture. It works because it doesn’t take away from the minimalism of the layout and still adds another layer of interest to the design.

August 05, 2010

Over the last few weeks I have spoken & written about how the digital space is becoming a designers playground through HTML 5, open design tool kits and video. Veer has become, yet another, type foundry added to Typekit’s remarkable list of foundries; allowing us to rent quality fonts for use on our websites. I first found Typekit when I was designing my new blog http://imadethat.posterous.com (exclusive work in progress blog - need a password to check it out)

Typography is the back bone of design. The web is just about 85% typography. Why shouldn’t it be viewed on the same lines as rounded corner boxes or text-shadows that look cool for the time being? It is an element of design that has been around since the written word first appeared on the walls of cavewoman. In order to help prevent typography from falling into yet another ignored or misused category, learning about typography, beyond typefaces and fonts is essential a must to every designers toolbelt.

The people behind Typekit do a great job of this. They offer a short write-up about each font providing background / historical information, purpose for which it was created, and what its use is best intended for (ie: works well at very small sizes, good for body copy, great for headlines).

A wide range of quality fonts at our finger tips, CSS3 techniques that allows us to break and flow text into multiple columns… The web is starting to give designers less and less limitations and comparable to its print ancestors. In your next digital project, challenge your development teams to expand their HTML & CSS practices to use the many type tools that are fueling the best built web experiences today.

May 17, 2008

Here we go again. The news media, namely CNN, MSNBC (NBC) and ABC News are attempting to choose the president again. Let us not forget the same three media outlets, along side of the NY Times, sold us the Iraq war and has devoted a week of powder puff coverage to a man who lost the last primary by a margin of 26 to 67, his biggest defeat of the campaign.

The radio silence given the enormous loss was deafening. This past week's media silence and then frenzied coverage of the John Edwards’ endorsement, which of course only came after the exit polls showed Mr. Obama’s momentum with white voters has come to a screeching halt as a good sign that the biased coverage was back in full swing. Team Obama gave us a Southern son who could not help Kerry win in his own state of North Carolina in 2004. While John Edwards’s endorsement is likely to deliver a few delegates the race is still close and is far from over.

You would have never known that Hillary had won a landslide victory in West Virginia. One would have thought that the victory would have given the former First Lady justification to stay in the race until the final and 56th primary on June 3.

I sincerely thought that women, namely Hillary, had come further this. “Blatant sexism still exists, even now.” I thought.

Then I took a few days to conduct some research and found something that was not a surprise – but was truly disturbing. This ground swell of big and small media coverage was bought and paid for by Obama for president. Yes, Obama is paying for the good press. The ground swell starts with a legion of 400 paid bloggers who conduct online attacks of Hillary supporters on Facebook and MySpace as well as a number of anti-Clinton videos that are posted by this team on a daily basis. According to Fox News, the Obama campaign has hired 400 bloggers to influence the public discourse shown in the polls and sway Hillary voters to "remember we are all Democrats", to give up Clinton's cause, and to become dutiful citizens of the Obama Nation.

So where do you go for unbiased news when all forms of free press are paid for? The Sunday morning media pundits have become paid propaganda for the far left wing of the democratic party.

Instead of giving Hillary the due coverage, they failed to report that Mr. Obama’s negative poll numbers continue to show that a steady stream white men, Latinos and woman voters that have lined up behind Mrs. Clinton and will likely break from the democratic party if she is not the nominee.

Many have asked why I am a Hillary Supporter. I have so many great reasons to stick with her until November. She and Bill represent a couple that made the American Dream work for them. She represents a fighter. We need a fighter.

We need someone who knows how to run Washington, not someone who can enter as a change agent and fail. Her platform comes closer to the FDR platform than anyone in the race. Her stance on health care in unwavering. She has laid out specifics from the day one on how she will turn the economy around with green jobs, just as her husband did with the Silicon Valley explosion in the 1990's.

More importantly, I grew up in a middle class family, where I directly benefited from Bill Clinton's Pell Grant Program. Without those grants I would not have been able to attend college.

The biggest thing I admire her for is her stamina - everytime they have counted her out she has proved the pundits wrong. It has made for great political theater.

Join Us On May 31 For A RallyJoin a group of Hillary supporters who are planning to visit Washington, D.C. on Saturday, May 31st to attend the meeting of the DNC Rules Committee and rally outside the DNC headquarters in support of Michigan and Florida. Check out the links to sites. Join us!

May 12, 2008

Digital or Die – I think not! Stop the madness! We all can contribute. Its not Digital v. TV . It should be Digital + TV. For those who have had success it simply is Digital + TV. The two converged and together they are more powerful than any medium on its own. Just look at the 2008 Election. They compliment and feed off each other.I was born digital. So do not kill the messenger.I ask you to listen to what I have learned through the ups and downs of having helped created the 1.0 economy where technology drove ideas and experiences, then lived through the bubble – you remember the time when we were all coding for food? Having lived through that experience the test results were clear.

The brands that have won are the ones who have used a simple formula.

Many digital practitioners have taken such polarizing stances on the role of the website, search, the banner ad and the long tail. In doing so they have alienated and confused brand teams as well as short changed their ability to make money.

Digital is a powerful medium. Digital offers the ability to innovate across the globe at the speed of light. When telling a compelling story it has the ability to cross cultures and deliver instant commerce, entertainment and education.

There is an effective way to combine them all to serve the brands you wish to sell. There are best practices that TV can teach to the digital socialites and Vise Versa.

Start with an idea! A website without an organizing idea is merely another fun toy. A TV ad without and idea is merely annoying. It is about being where they want us, when they want us and how they want us. Your Idea should answer why they want us.

Digital is not the best medium, it is not the only medium. It will continue to evolve like all other mediums. What digital offers is the flexibility and global reach like no other medium. All of that said, it is incredibly segmented and its continued proliferation will create smarter marketers out of consumers and the marketers who use the medium to its fullest potential. It cannot reach its full marketing potential if we allow technology to drive the consumer experience instead of a simple idea fulfilling a desire. Applications should have a purpose - they just cannot be cool.

Technology should facilitate the idea's amplification to the right audience. Digital is active not passive so an idea should be ubiquitous it should engage, enable and empower the consumer to own your brand.

May 11, 2008

While I was born into the marketing arena as a digital practitioner during the 1.0 boom – I do not subscribe to the death of the :30 second spot theories. TV will not die. It will continue to evolve and converge with the Internet.

Now I know many of my fellow social media mavens do subscribe to the death of the :30 spot theory. I simply do not. Having had my first career as a journalist in broadcast for ABC news I understand the power that a mass vehicle. Whether I was reporting from the courthouse steps or delivering a dog of the week report I knew though this mass vehicle I could get people to take action. I understand that almost 100% if the consuming audience uses it as a place for entertainment, news and learning. TV is not going away – but it has definitely changed.

Change will not happen in silos. The best companies have combined creative and media in one place. Big media planning and buying companies have yet to deliver new formats for us to test and measure against. When you combine the idea people with the media people what you get is a way to amplify and engage the consumer. Most recently I have begun working much closer with media outfits to change the formats that we deliver our conversation starters.

For instance, my most recent award winning work with Hershey’s, Kimberly-Clark, the Nestle’s / Dreyers Ice Cream brand Dibs has proven to be the right combination of creative and media. The use of live promotions, content pods and lower third tickers during content time combined with the power of widgets, internet videos and websites have begun to deliver more engaging consumer conversation starters. It is proving to be an area that more and more marketers are turning to.

This could not have happened without close partnerships with media properties like ABC / Disney and Viacom / MTVN. My expereince with planning an buying companies has been that they have become the middle man.

As we look into 2009 consider this equation. TV + Internet + Mobile = the creation of long lasting conversations that drive volume.

Direct, Advertising, Digital, Search, Retail, Promotions, Word Of Mouth (on and on and on) – are all used to create awareness, attempt to convert consumers and inspire their loyalty once we have their attention. We are all marketers. If your fees come out of a marketing budget – you are a marketer.

If you sell tactics, what happens when that tactic becomes too expensive, proves in effective on its own or is outsold by a competitive channel agency with a new bright shiny object? In my experience, you and your agency are OUT. Out of money, out of interest and out of options.

Stop selling agencies as tactical “machines”! In the service economy there is no respect or substantial money in the “machine” or production aspect of what we do. There is how ever substantial money in the creation and articulation of an idea.Ideas SellWhat is an idea? In marketing, an idea generates desire for the product or service you are selling. A great idea creates desire with entertainment and a compelling and valuable call to action.

Like every creative in the business I have a copy of Ogilvy On Advertising. David Ogilvy was famous for creating his agency's slogan: "we sell or else." That still holds true today. What David knew was that the he could not sell without an idea. The once constant in every effective case study I have read, written and studied is that the idea in conjunction with the right media sold the product.

If you never create an idea that creates desire – people will not look at the product you are selling as something they need.

The only way to do that is to deliver an idea that is worthy of a consumer conversation that is long lasting. You have to answer the consumer question – what’s in it for me. Don’t sell products…sell passions. No one does this better than American Express, Doritos, Mercedes, Adidas, Coke, Nike and The Gap.Delivering Consumer Relationships To BrandsAll the years I have spent working on brands and consumer retention programs I have found that it is NOT the tactic that makes a consumer love us.

It is what we say, how we act and their perception of our product’s effect on their lives.

May 04, 2008

The tide has turned. Brands teams that have allowed their brands to be touched by consumers have won and have upped the marketing ante. Consumer generated content, products ideas and conversations are not going away – as a matter of fact it is in full swing and marketers and creative’s who are using it – are inspiring deeper connections and relationships with their consumers.

This week I will focus my posts on the best practices that have lead to the best work which always leads to greater profitability for agencies and their clients.

This time last year I predicted that the agencies which used words like “traditional” and “interactive” to describe themselves would be the dinosaurs of 2008. And indeed they have become just that.

If you are living in the here is now, you are focusing past the latest tactical hype and having relevant, insightful conversations with your client’s consumers.

In my article “All Media Is Social” I stumbled upon on to a theme that affects the way agencies work with their clients. That theme was that in partnership with our clients we needed to become conversation architects. In David Armano’s Conversation Architect theory he expresses the need for creative’s to refocus their work in digital eco-systems. I believe that it has broader implications. Its not just digital, its about where and when the consumer wants it. Brands like Unilever's Dove has proved that to be true.

Last year at OMMA, I met Janet Kestin, the creative mastermind behind Dove’s evolution, she told me that capturing lightening in a bottle was as easy as launching a conversation starter that began with a set of consumer insights. What Janet artfully did was tap in to all woman’s desire to let our inner beauty shine. The evolution piece was one way to continue re-enforcing a three year campaign which shed light on the nasty truth we all needed to be reminded of so that we can go forth and have real beauty as real woman. The genius behind it is that Janet positioned Dove as the product that allowed woman to let their Real Beauty shine. The one thing that she did share with the OMMA audience was that Unilever did not easily embrace this part of the consumer conversation. It was seen as less of a risk as the video was a fraction of their typical creative production budgets for TV spots (125k Canadian Dollars). This portion of the conversation (one part of the campaign for real beauty) was fuelled by heavy public relations, celebrity endorsements like Oprah and Rosie as well as a little known mass vehicle called YouTube. What I learned from Janet is that clients and their consumer’s are not buying tactics – they are buying ideas.

The only way for agencies and marketing organizations to become Conversations Architects is to gently guide our clients with us on this journey. An agency, General, Direct or Digital must have a partnership that leads to broader stewardship of the brand to deliver on true consumer conversations. The one thing that has not and will not change is the fact that the agencies primary business is the relationship with our clients. With out them we do not have a business. The client agency relationship continues to be a partnership, which fuels our bottom lines.

Clients know they need to change – So how do you frame that change? You must be strategic and give market case studies that prove how great brands create and inspire brand loyalty in a world where all media is social and we the people have become the medium.

I often have been accused of being a bit of a Polly-Anna when it comes to how I view the agency world and the way we work collaboratively with clients. But I sincerely believe in the philosophy that tight-knit groups who have overlapping areas expertise as well as specific role functions can act as swat teams within large organizations to bring about smarter work and bigger ideas. When you work smart you get smart work. (and inevitably make more money together)We are all creativeFrom the relationship leaders in account to the insights strategists in planning to the writers, designers and information architects in creative to the business logic and server engineers in technology to data analysts in analytics – WE ARE ALL CREATIVE. And we are all responsible for the consumer experience.

Now seat our clients at that table for briefings, brainstorms and tissue sessions and what you get is a cohesive SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team.

Each one of us comes to the table with an arsenal experiences and expertise in executing tactics that can act as Brand’s secret weapons. We are all experts in our fields but when we come together in SWAT team we become a force to be reckoned with.

I know that it sounds like utopia, but what I have found is that it leads is a rich relationship with your clients and their consumers. And more importantly, it leads to more profitable agency relationships.

Where Do You Start?In a world where all media is social we must begin by identifying our target consumer and learning about how they live, what they do, why they do it and what they want. Once you have formulated the SWAT team that includes your client this should be the first step.

This is easy to do… The data is out there, no matter where you or what you subscribe to – Forrester, eMarketer, Simmons, ComScore, Nielson or Intelligence - any combination of these sources will get the answers to the basic questions.

Without answering those basic questions, how might one begin a relevant conversation with consumers? Imagine going to a networking event where you know nothing about the tribal passion that people are networking around. Without these consumer insights all your tactics will act as incredibly expensive cold calls. Cold calls are not the acts of marketers – they are the acts of sales departments. Even in this day of amplified technology, marketing is still part science and part art.

The best consumer conversations start with right consumer insights. Once you have that down now its time to brief the creative team. The best briefs do not merely happen on paper they kick off with the insights, the support points and product innovations and then turn into brainstorms. The best briefings include the account team, planners, creative’s and the client. When you combine those insights combined with the key brainstorm take-aways what you do is give your creative team the right foundation that will lead to the creation of big ideas that act as conversation starters for brands.

Once the results of those brainstorms are recorded now it is time for the creative team to go off and formulate a few cohesive big ideas.

When the creative team to heads off into their groups to create. What they should be delivering are ways to position ideas as conversations that create desire for a product or service. Those campaign ideas / conversation starters, are the awareness drivers needed in pre-purchase cycle of any product or service. When I create an idea I step back and look for what the audience desires. If my idea quenches what they want most, then I have done my job. Once I formulate the object of desire, then I work with tactical experts in media, technology and production to get the best in class ways to deliver the conversation starter through mass vehicles that give me maximum awareness that amplify the conversation.

Depending upon the audience consumption of media – you should tailor the idea to engage the consumer in the conversation through tactics that deliver a rich and innovative experience. This can happen through consistently tailoring and deliver on the desires of the audience and drive sales.

November 29, 2007

Last winter while at breakfast with the kids in Paris I became addicted to Orangina. Every chance I get I grab a 4$ bottle and slurp it down. (and when I am done i want more!!!) I ran across this great post on Contagious Mag's web site.

Honestly. You put on an animal costume and go hang out in Second Life, everyone thinks you’re a lunatic. Yet somehow, watching Psyop, Stink and FFL Paris’ latest effort for Orangina
in which various animals get unbelievably jiggy in a woodland stripclub
is an oddly erotic experience. Confused? You betcha. We caught up with
Psyop’s Todd Mueller to peel back the layers of Freudian symbolism and set our minds at rest.

Contagious: Wow. Just: wow. So, did you guys have fun?TM:
I don’t know if fun’s the word. We turned it around in three months,
which is a pretty short time frame for such an epic ad. We used a lot
of motion capture, but did a fair amount of framing and adjustment on
top of that.

Contagious: We noticed it was pretty sexy. TM:
Our intention was to make it as naughty as possible, but in the end
they are fantastic creatures. You’re not exactly watching real people
do it. We were treading very carefully on that edge of acceptability.

Contagious: Animals or no, there are some serious moves in it. Is it something that you’d only get away with in France? TM:
From what I understand, at the moment in France censorship is
self-regulated. The agencies and clients regulate themselves to ensure
no lines are crossed. However, that’s about to change. Sarkozy will be
instigating some kind of government regulation. However, I hope this
would make it through that. It’s more silly than it is dirty, and if
you catch all the sexual innuendoes you’re probably old enough to be
watching them.

Contagious: Psyop was
also responsible for the Coca-Cola Happiness Factory ad, which saw
small cute furry things behaving slightly more wholesomely. When the
rest of the sector is trying to reinforce the link between soft drinks
and fluffy friendliness, is sex the right tool with which to be
flogging Orangina? TM:
Orangina’s a bit of a curious brand. It’s been known more for the
product than the advertising, or any kind of brand identity. There’s a
lot of love for the product, yet no brand value. When they started
working with Fred & Farid [les creatives terribles of the Paris
scene, and founders of FFL] they were trying to give Orangina a sense
of personality, and fun. That’s what we’ve tried to do with the spot.
It’s more about fun and atmosphere and Mediterranean playfulness than
it is about sexuality.

Contagious:
Still, the bear’s a bit of a looker. Do you think this is indicative of
a wider trend in TV advertising, namely that is you’re going to do it,
you have to make it so striking that it’ll find its own legs on the
web? First Sony Bravia, then the Cadbury’s Gorilla, and now this.TM:
We’re definitely seeing advertising pushed into the realm of
entertainment. The more fun a piece of content is, be the closer it can
be to being a product in itself and not just a commercial. That’s an
exciting thing for the industry. Whether you call it branded content or
not, we’re evolving into the production of media that goes way beyond
the confines of just selling the brand or service.

November 25, 2007

It works for Brittany, it works for Paris... But does it or can it work for you? In our uber voyeuristic culture, can your opinion, porn or lack of tech acumen be a detriment to your career? Of course it can!

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has set up a Web site
warning young Britons that what they post to social networking websites
becomes public record, a woman in Italy is learning first hand that her
employers follow her actions on the Internet. Anna ‘pornoprof’ Cirani has been suspended from her teaching duties after it came to light that she also has a thriving career in pornography on Google Video. The UK Commissioner’s Office published comments
that it said were from the people interviewed for its survey precluding
the release of its new educational website, where a 14-year-old girl
from Scotland remarked: “Initial thoughts — who cares? There are lots people who do care.

I checked out the video(warning: pornographic content), to see what the fuss was about,
and as it turns out, she is quite naked and very much in public during
the filming of the video. What surprised me is the fact that the video
itself only has 125,000 views, and appears to be the authentic original
video that started the whole controversy. There could be compelling case made,
after watching the video, that more people saw her appear naked during
the actual filming of the video than have watched it on the web.

Really, then, the question is less of whether appearing in
pornography should exclude one from becoming a moulder of young minds,
but whether being naked in public is a firing offense in Italy
(although, one could argue that porn actresses are already moulders of
young minds). If she were an educator in the US, and yes I realize we are one of the most prude countries around, she would have been ousted with a good amount of fanfare. Regardless, it is still amazing that folks still think that what goes on the Internet has zero bearing on actual real life.

I can understand the kids perhaps not getting that connection.
They’re kids. But a teacher? Perhaps someone unable to grasp the
concept deserves to be fired based on those grounds alone.

July 18, 2007

Having spent years developing relationship marketing strategies for big brands, I am now of the opinion that affinity for a brand can wear off quickly when they begin spamming you with irrelevant crap!

I offer a bit of a cynical view when it comes to RM programs as everyone says they have one...but are they really offering consumers anything of value to inspire loyalty?

When Jim Beam sends me the latest sticker for my decanter do they really know me? If they did they would offer me something I found valuable...not another sticker or calendar at Christmas. (Which by the way I am Jewish.)

I am of the mindset that these brands need to stop spamming us as well as giving thoughtless gifts. This has yet to win over my affection or affinity. Give me a badge I can wear (not literally - but metaphorically) Give me something that is all about me. Something I can wear and make it my own.

Make it simple! Stop emailing and start using RSS (real simple syndication). All major consumer email carriers have readers. Shoot Google has a great way to keep track of brands that have RSS feeds in their easy to use iGoogle interface. Give me the information I want in a simple format so that I can gain quick access.

After the latest spam from AMEX for the alert for My WishList or the next tasting in a town that is to far too walk to I beg brand mavens to stop the madness and give me something that is worthy of me repeating. Something that is true to your brand.

I want, like all consumers want, to be in the know and feel smart. How is your brand delivering information so that I am a better, smarter, and quicker consumer?

Throw in widget that spits out valuable information I cannot get anywhere else. Allow me to repost it and show people how cool I am. I would love for VW to create a widget that told me it was time to put my top up on a rainy day. (That way I could stay far away from the dreaded condition of swamp-ass on a summer day.) And then you have me at hello.